Toronto Police Announce Results of Project 'Spade'

Web posted on November 18, 2013

On Thursday, November 14, 2013, Toronto Police Service Chief William Blair announced the
results of Project Spade, a three-year, international investigation involving the making and
selling of child exploitation videos and images over the internet.

In October 2010, undercover officers with the Toronto Police Service Child Exploitation
Section made contact with a Toronto man allegedly sharing images of child sexual abuse.
The investigation revealed that this person may have been operating a child exploitation
movie production and distribution company. The TPS then partnered with the United States
Postal Inspection Service to further the investigation into this individual and company.

On May 1, 2011, officers executed search warrants at a business and a residence in Toronto
and arrested a man.

It is alleged that:
* he was operating a website called www.azovfilms.com
* this website sold and distributed child exploitation movies and images to people
across the world
* the man paid various people to film children for the purpose of creating movies for
sale on his website
* over 45 terabytes of data were seized
* his company had revenues in excess of $4 million

Brian Way, 42, of Toronto, was charged with:
1) Possession Child Pornography
2) Three counts of Possession for the Purpose Publication Child Pornography
3) Six counts of Make Available Child Pornography
4) Three counts of Make for the Purpose Publication Child Pornography
5) Three counts of Advertise for the Purpose Distribution Child Pornography
6) Three counts of Sell/Distribute Child Pornography
7) Import/Export Child Pornography
8) Possession for the Purpose Exportation Child Pornography
9) Possession of Proceeds of Crime
10) Laundering Proceeds of Crime
11) Instructing Commission of Offence for Criminal Organization

This is the first time in Canada this charge (#11) has been laid in relation to a child
exploitation material investigation.

The TPS was able to determine the identities of customers of this website from around the
world. The RCMP's National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre (N.C.E.C.C.) in Ottawa
assisted the Child Exploitation Section in providing intelligence to over 50 countries.
As a result, 341 people have been arrested around the world. In addition, 386 children have
been rescued from child exploitation.

The Toronto Police Service would like to acknowledge the following agencies who participated
in Project Spade:
The United States Postal Inspection Service
Australian Federal Police
Cuerpo Nacional de Polica - Brigada de Investigacin Tecnolgica (Spain)
Procuraduria General de la Republica (PGR) in cooperation with Mexican Federal Police
Queensland Police Service Task Force Argos
South African Police Service
Hong Kong Police Force
Norwegian Police Service (Politi- og lensmannsetaten)
An Garda Sochna (Ireland)
Greece

The Toronto Police Service is a member of the Ontario Provincial Strategy to Protect Children
from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the internet which has been made possible by a grant
from the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and the Ministry of the
Attorney General. Members of the Strategy and the N.C.E.C.C. assisted in cataloging millions
of child exploitation images and videos.

The Toronto Police Service would also like to acknowledge the assistance of Cybertip.ca.
Cybertip.ca received many complaints about the website that became the basis of the Project
Spade investigation. Cybertip.ca allows for the online reporting of sexual exploitation of
children.

Project Spade Guelph Police Involvement
Accused: Terence KELEHER 62 years of age
Currently serving a term of imprisonment in the United States
Acting on information gathered from Project Spade and information from the United States
Department of Homeland Security, members of the Guelph Police Technological
Crimes/Internet Child Exploitation Unit commenced a Joint Investigation with the Department
of Homeland Security in January 2012. As a result of that investigation members of the
Guelph Police Service executed a criminal code search warrant at a home on Buckthorn
Crescent in the City of Guelph, on Monday, January 30th, 2012.